YouBoox

“We want to share the love of reading with a 300M-person market”

What they do

YouBoox is a French-language books and magazines streaming service that offers unlimited access to over 100,000 titles on a monthly subscription basis.

What they do with us

The service is available to Orange Belgium customers as part of the Orange Thank You loyalty program. The company is also integrating the Pay with Orange Bill service to boost their development in the MEA region.

The results

YouBoox hopes that the integration of the Pay with Orange Bill API will enable them to expand in Middle East and Africa.

YouBoox plans expansion in Middle East and Africa with the Pay with Orange Bill API

Hélène Merillon, CEO & co-founder of e-book streaming service YouBoox, explains the strategic potential of integrating the Pay with Oraneg Bill service for MEA.

The challenge

YouBoox subscribers pay a monthly fee to enjoy unlimited access to a cloud-based library of over 100,000 e-books and magazines titles. Primarily designed for tablets and smartphones, this service was a pioneering offer, explains Hélène Merillon: “When we started in 2011, there weren’t any tech models for streaming documents to mobile devices, as opposed to audio and video.”

Four years on, the service numbers 1 million subscribers, 50% of whom are in France. The company was founded in Paris, the natural entry-point for the French-language market, which represents 300 million people worldwide – many of whom are avid readers, just like the YouBoox crew. “This is a market that really loves books and loves reading,” Hélène explains, “which is why we’re focusing on it. We want to share this passion and believe our service is a chance to spread books and magazines to audiences they otherwise might not have reached.” As part of this mission, YouBoox also features an intelligent suggestion service to broaden their users’ horizons.

The results

Already in a fruitful partnership with Orange Belgium as part of a loyalty program offer, YouBoox is looking to continue in this path by working with subsidiaries in Africa. This is where the Pay with Orange Bill API comes in.

“Orange is a key partner for us to continue expanding in these French-speaking markets, notably thanks to their network of aggregators,” Hélène says. “We’re in the process of linking up with aggregators in several countries, notably the Ivory Coast, Senegal and Tunisia.” This is a much more efficient approach, as they are already connected to the Orange Billing services.

“Africa already represents 20% of our users, and YouBoox can definitely fill a need there,” Hélène says. “Close to 90% of French-language books are made by French publishers, and they’re not necessarily easy to access outside of France – but they become so through our service!”

Next steps

“Integrating the Pay with Orange Bill service for MEA is a kind of accelerator for us,” Hélène concludes. “Once we’re plugged in, our service will essentially be one click away for Orange subsidiaries in the region. We’re looking forward to working with them!”